VOA标准英语2014--挪威是最适合养老的国家

 

Norway Ranked Best for Older People 挪威是最适合养老的国家 

Norway tops the list of countries that offers the best social policies for people over 60. Afghanistan is rated the worst. The rankings appear in the new Global Age Watch Index. Help Age International published the index of 96 countries that are home to 790-million people 60 and older.

Chief Executive Officer Toby Porter said, “For too long, older people have been excluded from international and national development planning.”  He blamed much of that on – what he calls – “exceptionally poor data” on older people.

“We have a world which is ageing fast. And what the index does is compares and ranks countries from best to worst countries in the world to grow old,” he said.

The Global Age Watch Index rates countries in four categories.

“Health, income, what we call capability¹ - ability to carry on contributing employment. And then the final one about enabling environment – what do older people think about the environment that they live in.”

Porter said that many older people are not financially secure.

“The focus on the report this year is on pensions – on retirement² income that older men and women can expect.”

The index reports only one in four older people over 65 in low and middle income countries have any kind of retirement saving. Help Age lists the best pension system as a universal basic payment that is available to everyone once they are old enough.

Norway gets the highest ranking in the index. Rounding out the top 10 are Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Iceland, the United States, Japan and New Zealand. Afghanistan is at the bottom of the list following many years of conflict.

There are 10 African countries on the index – all near the bottom. South Africa ranks the highest among them at 80. However, Porter said South Africa is doing some positive things.

“South Africa has introduced and continues to support and grow a basic universal pension entitlement for all of her older population. And this is terrific. And we’ve seen some very encouraging public statements from President Zuma and from other senior politicians in South Africa that they recognize the contribution and the importance of supporting their older population. South Africa is actually showing a really good model to the rest of the continent that it is possible to introduce pensions,” he said.

South Africa is one the so-called BRICS nations – countries with strong emerging economies. Other members include Brazil, ranked 58 – Russia, ranked 65 – India, 69 and China, 48.

Porter said, “A lot of the impetus³ behind China introducing pension provision for all of her older citizens was to provide an incentive⁴ for them to start using their purchasing power earlier in their lives in spending money rather than saving it for a pension.”

The African countries of Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique all rank below South Africa on the Global Age Watch Index. In fact, Mozambique is just above Afghanistan on the list.

HelpAge International recommended African nations begin providing pensions when people turn 60. However, if countries are poor, it said they might not be able to institute a pension system to every eligible⁵ person at once – or they could require a higher eligibility⁶ age for a time.

Another factor is Africa’s youth population, which is much greater than most parts of the world. Therefore, governments are already hard pressed to provide education and jobs. Porter said foresight⁷ is needed.

“Let’s not make this a competition between generations. Firstly, in an individual’s lifetime he or she is going to be a youth and an older person. We know many instances whereby older people receiving pensions have allowed children in poor and marginalized households to go to school.”

HelpAge reported the cost of pensions is “much less than often assumed.” It cites research in 50 countries that found that “the cost of a universal pension -- for all people over 65 at 20 per cent of average income -- would range from less than half a percent of Gross Domestic Product in Burkina Faso to 1.8 percent in China.” 

Some pensions may not amount to much money, but HelpAge said it can offer some independence and enough to buy essentials, like medicine.

1 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

2 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

3 impetus   

n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力

参考例句：

• This is the primary impetus behind the economic recovery.这是促使经济复苏的主要动力。
• Her speech gave an impetus to my ideas.她的讲话激发了我的思绪。

4 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

5 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

6 eligibility   

n.合格，资格

参考例句：

• What are the eligibility requirements? 病人被选参加试验的要求是什么？ 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望
• Eligibility for HINARI access is based on gross national income (GNI). 进入HINARI获取计划是依据国民总收入来评定的。

7 foresight   

n.先见之明，深谋远虑

参考例句：

• The failure is the result of our lack of foresight.这次失败是由于我们缺乏远虑而造成的。
• It required a statesman's foresight and sagacity to make the decision.作出这个决定需要政治家的远见卓识。